


Bury me in a shallow grave of whiskey

by calysto1395



Series: Paranormal Nein [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mention of Character Death, Modern AU, Mollymauk lives, Paranormal AU, Post Lorenzo, Raven Vax'ildan, Supernatural Elements, mixed with D&D Rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 02:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18489646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calysto1395/pseuds/calysto1395
Summary: Mollymauk isn't sure what is worse: the bugs crawling in his underwear or his missing phone.





	Bury me in a shallow grave of whiskey

_'Not again'_   was probably not the most typical reaction to have after clawing your way out of your own grave, but it was the thought of one Mollymauk Tealeaf.

 

His legs were still mostly submerged in the dirt, his boots filled with it, as he panted and tried to gather his wits. There was still blood under his fingernails.

 

Blood. Caleb. Pain. Beauregard. A glaive. Nott. Cold.

 

 _Lorenzo_.

 

He groaned and balled his fist in the dirt as the memories were rushing back. They were terrible enough that he couldn’t even be grateful for retaining them this time. Later, Molly would have time to be curious about that fact that he hadn’t forgotten everything. Right now he needed to get his damn legs unstuck and find a bald bastard to kill.

 

“Now, I don’t think you should be doing that.”

 

His head snapped up and came face to face with a stranger. They were a small giant, pink hair falling over one shoulder and long enough to tickle Molly’s face. A curious, but kind look on their face as they examined him. What a picture he must be. Halfway out (or in) a grave, blood possibly still splattered on his chest.

 

“It’s kind of my thing.” He said and had to swallow against his dry throat. He tasted bile, dirt and copper.

 

The stranger hummed and leaned their head to the side. They squinted slightly, almost comically, for an uncomfortable amount of time.

 

Who would have thought that waking up in his own grave would be even weirder the second time around? At least Gustav had just been terrified and concerned when he had found him. This person seemed to contemplate whether to whack him with their giant walking stick or dust the dirt off his cheeks.

 

“You aren’t undead. That’s strange.” They said, finally.

 

“I’d hope so.” Was all Molly could say. He had fought undead, they weren’t any fun. And Molly prided himself on being lots of fun for all occasions. “Care to lend me a hand there, pal?” He said, and attempted to lift himself out of the dirt again. His arms shook like twigs in the wind and every muscle ached under the fruitless strain.

 

“Oh, right, yeah.” The stranger said before putting their hands under Molly’s armpits surprisingly gently and pulling him up. With their combined strength it wasn’t too difficult to kick free from the dirt anymore. At least whoever buried him hadn’t gone the full six feet.

 

Standing on his own two feet was already enough of a challenge after that ordeal. He shook the dirt off his hair and tried not to think of all the bugs under his clothes.

 

“Good thing I brought more than one cup with me.” The stranger said and began to dig around in their bag as Molly emptied some of the soil from his boot. They pulled out two mugs and a camping tea kettle and set them all on the ground, right next to where a small campfire was already burning. Molly hadn’t even noticed it. He also hadn’t noticed how damn cold he was until that moment. As if to emphasize his revelation, the wind picked up and blew his coat open.

 

“Thanks for your help…?” He trailed off watching the stranger begin to boil water and put some tea leaves into the mugs.

 

“Oh, right.”, the stranger stood again and extended their hand. “Caduceus Clay. My pleasure.”

 

“Mollymauk. Again, thanks for the help, but I don’t have time for tea. I have some people who will be needing my help.” He said and looked around. It was still the last place he remembered. They had laid their trap for Lorenzo here. At least his was the only graveside he could see. That meant there was a chance the others had all made it out alive.

 

“My father would say, there is always time for a cup of tea.” Caduceus said and sat back by his fire.

 

Molly shivered in the wind. “While I’m usually delighted to drink unknown plant teas with strangers I’ve met on the side of the road, I’m afraid I’m pressed for time today.” He said. Which direction had Lorenzo and his gang been headed? He barely remembered where he was on a good day. Where was Caleb when you needed him?

 

“You are already a week late for whatever you had planned, I’m afraid. Might as well take a minute to adjust.” Caduceus told him and took his boiling water off the fire to pour into mugs.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Yeah, here.” Caduceus held out a mug for him to take.

 

“Not the fucking tea. How do you know it’s been a week?” He asked and felt around his person. Still had one of his swords. Most other things were gone. His wallet, phone, keys, and even his gods' damned cards.

 

“Oh, the tree told me,” Caduceus said, gesturing over to the tree just behind Molly’s gave.

 

Molly stared at him.

 

Sure, the tree told him.

 

A week. Yasha could be dead by now. Beauregard could be dead. Any and all of them. Maybe a worse faith had befallen them even.

 

Maybe Molly was alone in the world again, even with his memories. Molly sat down and took the cup of tea.

 

“Do you have a phone I could borrow?” He asked, and wrapped his freezing fingers around the mug.

 

“Nah, sorry.”

 

“‘Course not.” Molly drank a sip of scalding tea but it felt like honey on his parched throat. “Your tree wouldn’t happen to know where my fellows went, would they?”

 

“Didn’t really think to ask. I honestly didn’t even know you’d be here.” Caduceus said and sipped, more carefully, on his own mug. He had a serene smile on his face that sort of pissed him off.

 

“Sure. You just happen to stumble across my grave.”

 

“To be fair, that’s kind of _my_ thing,” Caduceus said with a slight chuckle. “I’m a gravekeeper, usually.”

 

Molly looked around the expenses of fields and forest around them. The only thing pointing to civilization was the paved road.

 

“Awfully far away from it, aren’t you?”

 

Caduceus shrugged a little sheepish smile. “Yeah, suppose so. Couldn’t help it. I had to be here.”

 

Molly squinted at him and tried to subtly smell the tea. It had tasted like strong herbs but nothing that would be able to knock him out or poison him. Besides, why pull him out of his grave if he was just gonna poison him later?

 

“Why?” He asked and put one hand on his sword as subtly as possible anyway. Maybe getting killed had put him a little on edge. “And don’t say a tree told you.”

 

“Oh no, they have much better things to do. The Wildmother told me to come here. Apparently, she owed someone a favor.”

 

A caw in the sky and before they could lift their heads to look for the source of the noise, a jet black raven descended from the dark sky to land at their campsite.

 

Molly narrowed his eyes at the bird. “You again?”

 

Instead of answering like a normal person, the raven cawed at him. It occurred to Molly then that he was talking to a bird. Even if he knew this particular bird very well.

 

“Ah, hello there.” Caduceus said and offered the raven a couple of berries from his palm.

 

Molly drank more tea, wishing it was liquor. At least the tea warmed his chest from the cold that had settled there. He rubbed at his sternum to spread the feeling to the rest of his body but his fingers came away sticky with dried blood. He grimaced at the sight of it and silently noted the absence of his necklace. When he looked around, he imagined he could see the place where his blood at seeped into the ground, but in the dead of night, every shadow pained dark spots on the road. Maybe it had already washed away? A week. He tried to roll the word around in his mind until it lost meaning.

 

Dead for a week. Had it taken longer than last time? Was he just cursed to come back, again and again?

 

He stared at the raven picking berries out of Caduceus hand.

 

“I need some answers from your queen.” He said, and both Caduceus and the raven turned to look at him.

 

The raven cawed again and Molly imagined it to sound sad. With one last berry, the bird flapped its wings once, twice before it took off.

 

“What a nice fella,” Caduceus said, of course he did.

 

Molly wanted to crawl back into the grave.

 

“Do you know the way to Shady Creek?” He asked, hands tight around the mug.

 

“Oh yes. I’m actually from Shady Creek. Well, sort of.”

 

“Great. So you can take me.”

 

Caduceus blinked at him. “Sure. If you want to go there. I could show you my graveyard.”

 

“No offense, but I think I’ve had enough of burial sites for a while.”

 

Caduceus gave him a crooked smile. “Fair enough.” He took a slow, savoring, sip of his tea.

 

“Well?” Molly asked.

 

“Oh, now?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Nah. You haven’t even finished your tea. Besides, you’ll need some rest before we head back up there. It’s quite a journey on foot.”

 

“I think I’ve had enough rest.”

 

Caduceus shook his head. “Coming back from the dead is very strenuous. Sleep tonight, walking tomorrow.”

 

It was likely his imagination, but Molly could hear a raven somewhere mocking him.

 

“They’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Caduceus told him and Molly forced himself to take a deep breath.

 

His hand were shaking. His legs felt like rubber, and he was still cold down to his core. If his memory served him right, it was at least a few days journey up to Shady Creek. And he was so exhausted. Maybe resting one night would be best.

 

“Got any more of that tea?” He asked, and emptied his cup in one big gulp.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my wonderful beta EchoedMusic as always! 
> 
> I've had the idea for this AU for a while and have a couple unconnected one shots for it and I figured, why not post them eventually. I hope you enjoy! Any questions to this AU i will happily answer in the comments, on twitter or tumblr!


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